1. Technical Field
The present invention generally relates to a method and system for searching for web content. Specifically, the present invention relates to a method and system for retrieving web content at designated web addresses and hyperlinks, and then indexing the retrieved content in a local database for future efficient access.
2. Background Art
As the use of the Internet becomes more pervasive, individuals and business entities are increasingly using the Internet as a tool for obtaining information. For example, a financial advisor might check numerous World Wide Web sites (web sites) for current financial news on a regular basis. Currently, the financial advisor generally performs his/her searches by entering keywords into a search engine. The search engine will then utilize a program known as a “spider” or “crawler” that will visit and read web sites searching for the entered keyword. Web sites where the keyword is located will be identified for the financial advisor, who can then visit each web site on his/her own (e.g., by clicking on a hyperlink). Alternatively, the financial advisor might already know the specific web sites that he/she wishes to visit. In this case, the financial advisor would visit each web site individually and manually retrieve any desired web content.
Under both alternatives, the financial advisor is forced to perform numerous activities in order to retrieve desired web content. Such a task is highly inefficient and can greatly reduce the productivity of the financial advisor. This is especially true if the financial advisor retrieves web content on a regular basis. In addition, when retrieving web content from numerous different locations, searching, mining, analyzing, and/or archiving the web content can be a time consuming task.
Heretofore, attempts have been made to overcome these inefficiencies by providing web-searching systems. One such example is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 6,145,003 to Sanu et al. Sanu et al., however, fails to provide a system whereby web content can be retrieved from specific web pages according to pre-designated web addresses and hyperlinks. Specifically, Sanu et al. fails to show a system whereby a user can designate a particular web site, as well as any hyperlinks within the designated web site, from which content should be retrieved. In addition, Sanu et al. fails to show a system whereby web content is actually retrieved and indexed in a local database. In contrast, a user of the system of Sanu et al. must visit each web site to retrieve any desired content.
In view of the foregoing, there exists a need for a method and system for searching for web content. A further need exists for a method and system whereby specific web pages can be designated according to web addresses and hyperlinks so that web content can be automatically retrieved on a scheduled basis. A need also exists for retrieved content to be indexed in a local database so that a user's search will occur at the local database level, as opposed to over the entire World Wide Web.